It was meant to be Bill English’s day, but the National leader’s State of the Nation speech was overshadowed by speculation his retirement from politics was imminent

By Jason Walls

It was supposed to be Bill English’s day.

After a less than stellar start to the year from the Opposition, Bill English’s State of the Nation speech was a chance for the veteran MP to outline his party’s vision for New Zealand and to explain what the Government is getting wrong.

The good news for English is his speech delivered on many of these aspects. It was heavy on the country’s strong economic position and how National had helped to get New Zealand to this point.

He called out the Government for threatening to stifle that growth, specifically with its impending changes around employment law; and he even had a fancy new website to go along with it.

But unfortunately for English and his team of speech writers, that counts for almost nothing just hours after the speech was made.

Even with classic lines such as “the Government’s plan appears to be a nostalgic belief in trees, trains and trade unions”, the scene-setting speech was no match for the smell of blood.

Like many Kiwis, this morning I awoke to speculation that Bill English’s days as National’s leader are numbered and members of his caucus are already vying for the top job.

As the morning progressed so did the story, which continued to snowball until English took to the podium for his speech at midday.

“A bit of leadership speculation certainly turns out the journalists,” English chuckled as he began his speech. Half an hour later, English was greeted by a gaggle of journalists all armed with questions about his leadership.

English committed to “performing at the level that is going to retain confidence” and that the only decider on whether he would remain in Parliament was his own performance.

He described the speculation as “gossip” and told reporters he had strong indications he had the support of his caucus and had “no knowledge” of any leadership changes afoot.

But this won’t stop the stories and the narrative; think back to when former Greens co-leader Metiria Turei and former Labour leader Andrew Little stood down last year. Granted, the moves came under different circumstances, but the fact remains it was a media feeding frenzy in the days preceding their announcements.  

Stories about the changing of the guard will continue developing as the week goes on. In question time on Wednesday afternoon, Labour MPs were not holding back with their jeers and taunts to English about this issue and will likely continue on in the House on Thursday.

Questions have already been raised about the timing of the leak, given it spilled out just hours before English’s speech.

But one thing is for sure – the day which English was planning on kick starting the year and putting the Government on the back foot took a turn for the worse.

It was certainly not Bill English’s day.